Fox sneaks into house and bites woman lawyer, 46, on ear as she sleeps in her bed

Sound asleep in her bed, Annie Bradwell was suddenly awoken by something tugging at her hair.

Moments later she screamed in agony as the unwelcome visitor sank its teeth into her ear, biting through the cartilage.

Unable to see what had happened in the dark, a bewildered and distressed Miss Bradwell assumed it was her ageing cat, which she chased out of the bedroom.

Shocked: Annie Bradwell awoke to find a fox had entered her bedroom and bitten her ear, leaving a wound which had to be glued shut by doctors

The incident is one of a number of fox attacks which have been reported by people living in urban homes this year

The 46-year-old lawyer then cleaned the blood from her ear and returned
to bed. Minutes later she felt her hair being pulled gain – and opened
her eyes to see the outline of a fox inches from her face.

‘It was then that I realised I was still bleeding and that I had been
bitten quite badly,’ she said. ‘I then started getting very frightened
because I don’t know what diseases foxes carry nowadays.’

Miss Bradwell, who lives in Fulham, south-west London, believes the fox
got in through a ground-floor window she had left open for her cat.

The incident is one of a number of urban fox attacks this year. In June
nine-month-old twins Isabella and Lola Koupparis were mauled as they
slept in their cots in Hackney, east London.

After this latest incident, doctors repaired Miss Bradwell’s ear with medical glue and gave her a course of antibiotics.

Recalling the moment she was attacked, she said: ‘I was asleep and felt something tug at the hair at my temple, then immediately after there was a chomp on my ear.

I screamed and swore at the cat at the end of my bed. ‘I was in the bathroom then I went back to bed and was dozing off, when I could feel what I thought was the cat coming up by my side again.

In June nine-month-old twins Isabella and Lola Koupparis (pictured here with their brother and parents) were repeatedly mauled as they slept in their cots in Hackney, East London

‘It started to tug at my hair again, and I opened my eyes and there was a fox right by my face.’
She added: ‘I knew that the little baby girls who had been bitten had to have courses of rabies injections.

WHY FOX BITES SHOULD BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY

Although
relatively rare, fox bites should be taken seriously and medical advice
sought should the injury become infected, experts say.

In general the bite will produce a very small puncture wound which will need cleaning to avoid bacteria getting inside.But there is almost certainly no need to receive any vaccinations.

According
to the Health Protection Agency there is virtually no risk of catching
rabies from a fox because this disease was eradicated in Britain 100
years ago.

But foxes' fur can carry a skin infection known
Sarcoptic mange. Although humans cannot catch this directly it can
cause a painful skin rash.

Experts say the animals can also carry
a fungal infection of the skin called 'ringworm' which produce an itchy
skin infection on humans.

But people are far more likely to catch
diseases from their cats and dogs including toxoplasma, which can cause
flu-like symptoms; and toxocara, which can cause headaches, fever and
abdominal pain.

Professor Stephen Harris, from the University of
Bristol, who devoted much of his research to foxes. said: 'I have been
bitten several times by foxes and it is actually very harmless.

'In
actual fact you are far more likely to catch a disease from your dog or
cat. There is very little evidence of foxes passing on diseases to
humans.'

‘Obviously, foxes are scavengers and predators, so that means they are
carrying all sorts of stuff in their mouths and I got really frightened
then.’

When she told her neighbours about the attack, one told her about a
finding a carcass of a cat, believed to have been killed by a fox.
Others have told of packs of foxes roaming through Fulham in daylight,
seemingly unafraid of people.
Miss Bradwell called Hammersmith and Fulham Council to demand action,
but was told the authority’s powers are limited because foxes are not
classed as vermin.

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She said: ‘Somebody has to deal with the fact that there has been a
huge explosion in the population of foxes. I love foxes and they have a
lot of charm and cheekiness, but they don’t belong in cities if it has
got to the stage where they’re fearless
with human beings.

‘Next door to me, both sets of neighbours have young babies. If
there were wild pit bull terriers or hyenas in our gardens people would
be outraged.’

Residents living in Miss Bradwell’s street believe the foxes may be
breeding on areas of derelict land close to their local Sainsbury’s.
Edward Collet, who works for the supermarket, said he had noticed a
large adult fox early one morning.

‘It had no fear of me as I approached it,’ he said. A council
spokesman said the authority can offer residents advice about foxes,
but is unable to take direct action against the animals.

The rise of Britain’s throw-away culture and fortnightly bin collections,
which lead to rubbish sacks being piled outside for days, have been blamed for the rise of urban foxes.